TELs Update – November

In the weeks leading up to the new Trekkers group arrival the TELs worked hard to plan and prepare for the re-vamped jungle training experience. We all made ambitious jungle training plans and transport plans…only a few minor errors. Fortunately Boo and Colin were constantly on hand to guide and ridicule our attempts.
The final days of our own training included more work on river crossings. It is fair to say we weren’t entirely on form…again Jade ended up drifting down the river as Frankie threw a line but forgot to hold his end of it, this was followed by various inaccurate attempts with the throw line, the safety line was not secured and ended off downstream and we topped it all off by leaving all the kit and nearly driving off in the landrover! Not our finest hour, summarized by Colin as a total shamble. We redeemed ourselves in our second attempt in which all crossings were successfully completed…no people or ropes ended up downstream.
We completed our preparations just in time for the arrival of the new group. Day one of Jungle Training at Sylvestre Village we allocated buddy pairs by blindfolding the Trekkers and getting them to mime and make animal noises in order to find their partner. Dr Doug stole the show with his impression of a panda eating bamboo!
Everyone seemed to enjoy the training – the Trekkers mastered several jungle ninja skills including navigation, first aid, machete use, shelter building and trap making. To test their abilities we sent the Trekkers off on a solo night. It happened to fall on Friday 13th so Doug, Jade and Boo decided a bit of spooking was in order. We tried to creep with ninja stealth around the camps and even had sticks moving spookily across the camps on the end of fishing line. The Trekkers apparently heard our giggling and not so stealth-like crashing through the jungle and remained totally unphased by our attempts.
In an attempt to heighten the senses of the Trekkers to the sounds of the jungle we went on a night walk without headlamps up a nearby hill. At the top we all stood quietly in a circle for a few minutes to listen to the night sounds before everyone took it in turns to share their highlights of the trip so far. It was a quality moment.
Jungle Training concluded with the Trekkers successfully completing a belt kit night followed by the usual antics at the legendary Jungle Jim’s party.
Next we surprised the Trekkers with a canoe trip from the ruins at Lamanai. Having told them that we only had 2 canoes – Colin and Boo sat in the safety boat and we persuaded everyone else to cram into the other one. 9+ people in a canoe - the result was inevitable!
Unfortunately we got lost in the labyrinth of small rivers and it was left to Colin and Frankie to wade waist deep in the swamp to find a way out. Frankie commented that it looked like someone else had been through here. Colin decided that wasn’t the moment to tell him they were following a trail made by a crocodile.
The Trekkers are now working hard at El Pilar archaeological site building benches, a palapa and steps. Highlights so far include sneaking across the border to see Mayan treasure holes, and spotting toucans and spider monkeys.
And so our story comes to an end – it has been physically, mentally and emotionally draining, it has had some serious low points and some definite “what are we doing here” moments. But, ultimately the knowledge and satisfaction that we can wander into the jungle armed with only a machete (ok, a match as well!) and happily survive has made it all so worthwhile. The jungle has become our friend rather than our enemy now. What more can you ask for?

Bosh

TELs Update – October

4 x 4 Madness

We spent two days learning how to drive and maintain Landrovers with Graham (Mr Landrover Belize). As well as being wicked fun and very useful his unending enthusiasm converted us all to being Landrover fans…we put the landie through its paces with off-road driving, river crossings, very steep winding descents and hill starting without cracking an egg behind the tire. We also got under the hood to learn how to fix things when they inevitably go wrong! We managed to complete the course with no accidents and only a few rally driver style scary moments.

Jungle Survival Training and Belt Kit Nights

Ten days of….trap building, fire lighting, shelter building, fishing, cutting down trees for food, learning about medicinal plants, killing venomous snakes, lobster trap making, hammock making, endless cups of yummy tea vine … all under constant attack by sand flies and mosquitoes.
One night our guide had to kill a fer-de-lance that was near our camp…he layed it out over a log, only to return the next day to find it was gone. A careful search nearby found a very angry looking snake with a sore head curled up nearby…after much mocking of Marcus (the guide) the snake was killed…again.
We all had an amazing, although very tough, time on our two belt kit nights…we were allocated our own little spaces about 300m apart on the river bank…the entire first day was spent building our individual shelters from 50ft cohune palm leaves. We all had a pretty uncomfortable first night getting munched by sandflies…despite our best efforts to deter them with our cohune nut fires. Frankie spent the day fishing and caught his own dinner, whilst not far away a cohune palm was being massacred…2 ½ hours of macheting later had enough for one meal…was it really worth it?!
We all made some home improvements to our shelters in order to have a more comfortable second night…although there were a number of spooky encounters with Mayan jungle spirits. Kent slept on, unaffected by jungle joo-joo.

Wilderness First Responder

We have previously completed parts of our medical training with Marcus so to finish the course we had one week of lectures followed by a mammoth day of scenarios to test our skills and knowledge.
Step forward medic number 1…got the IV in, treated a pneumothorax and stretcher carried the patient out of the jungle. We thought we were done for the day…but Marcus had other ideas. Next up….we were joined by a team of Belizean trainees and were set the challenge of a double casualty scenario in a cave. We had to administer IV, put on neck braces and spine boards and float the casualties out on a kayak. Again, we sat down satisfied that we’d successfully finished the task. But no, Marcus had more in store. Next we had to swim the casualty a mile and half down the river…while they repeatedly went into shock and cardiac arrest. The exercise FINALLY finished at midnight…cold, soaked and knackered we headed home for hot tea, toast and bed.

To achieve our qualification we then had to do 50 hours experience at Belmopan Hospital. We kicked it off on the Saturday night with a 12 hour overnight shift in the Emergency Room. One hour into the shift, our first stab victim was bought in…followed by a machete wound to the head and a non-stop stream of screaming babies. Following this we opted for day shifts! Throughout our time there we assisted the doctors in treating, dengue fever, swine flu, diabetic emergencies, fractured and dislocated limbs…and chronic hiccups.
We all had a great, if a little nerve-wracking, time and learnt a lot by practicing in a real life situation…just feel a bit sorry for all the patients we practiced IVs on.

Back at Field Base

Colin and Boo now have us working hard at field base preparing for the arrival of the Trekkers in November…it’s all looking really exciting now, we can’t wait for them to arrive and to get back out into the jungle!

TELS Update – August and September

Many hot, wet, mosquito infested nights have passed since we last wrote…we have received extensive lessons in jungle survival, wilderness medical and sleeping in the rain…

Round Da Big Block

The TELs attempted a rigorous five day patrol with two of Bladen’s hottest rangers, Marcus and Victor, only to be defeated after the first day by an unexpected rise in the river. Rainy conditions at this time of the year tend to obstruct our plans….a theme that was to continue.

Sunning in Placencia

The TELs gorge on lobster burritos, mojitos, banana and rum smoothies…pretty much anything we could get our hands on.

First Aid with Dr Hemel

The TELs had the privilege of training under the NHS finest and funniest Dr Hemel Shah…we had our first introduction to improvised splints and casualty stabilization and timing of casevacs. Adams schooling and strong back saved the day as we struggled with stretcher carries out of tricky situations.

Meanwhile, the Trekkers were busy building a palapa and benches from jungle materials in El Pilar.

Indian Creek Trek

The TELs were trusted with managing the trek for 5 days…a pretty intense environment to practice our leadership and technical skills. We were lucky enough to see several ceremonial artefacts in the caves as well as amazing natural rock formations. The beautiful scenery caused the ever enthusiastic Justin to proclaim this as the best day in Belize so far!

We experienced our first real life casevac situation as Jade fell and injured her knee…the team pulled together to administer the necessary first aid and improvise a stretcher from jungle materials. Just when the load was starting to get heavy we were assisted by two menonites with their wagon who helped carry the casualty to camp ready for night time surgery…suturing by the campfire.

Swift Water Rescue with BDRRT and further Hemel style medical ninjitsu

The next section of the course began with a full day river rescue training involving crossing the river with a casualty, improvising water borne stretchers and using team work to transport casualty upriver.

Day two was spent in the cave learning how to evacuate a casualty through caves using only improvised materials and a lot of ingenuity. The final day we worked on splints, stretchers, C-spine stabilization and traction splints using vines, bark, leaves and trees.

The TELs learnt to suture on a hunk of ham and practiced putting in canulas on each other. The week concluded with a 2 day block of ever more elaborate scenarios to test our current skill level capping off with an eight hour water based rescue.

The legend that is Antonio…jungle master extraordinaire

Our favourite huggable Belizean bushman returned to instruct us for 5 days in the many uses of the giant bay tree…we climbed it, we killed it, we roasted and ate it and we sheltered under it…many hours were spent in the rain harvesting this umbrella like foliage…and drinking spiced tea vine. Yum!

The Canoe Adventure

5 days of paddling along the Sibun…every day packed with amazing wildlife….crocodiles, iguanas, howler monkeys…to name but a few. A relaxed journey until the third day when Doug capsized and obliterated the canoe….resulting in us all having to quickly hone our paddling skills to gather our kit from being carried downstream.

Without missing a beat Marcus obtained a spare kayak so we could continue our journey…into darker, more mosquito infested waters.

The Might of the Manatee

We had intended to take a trek unsupported down the Manatee River in order to hone our leading and navigating skills…but the wet season had other ideas.

Day one…we couldn’t cross the river as it was too high so we set about making plan B.
Day two…everyone (except Jade!!) suffered a wet night in a lightning storm and so we aborted the plan again, let the jungle win…and went dipping in the creek instead.

Belize has thrown plenty of sunshine and rain at us lately…no doubt there will be plenty more before the end of the course.

Trekforce conquers Victoria Peak

At the end of June 2009, the conservation and community development organisation Trekforce completed an epic trek from the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary to the summit of Victoria Peak, and back.

Trekforce is already well known throughout Belize for their adventurous environmental conservation projects in the jungle and their community and teaching work in rural primary schools over the last twenty years. As their name suggests, they also enjoy a challenging trek. David Osborne, a Trekforce volunteer and trainee expedition leader, provides an insight into the life of volunteer on such a trek:

We began our trek on Sunday 14th June 2009 at Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary - the beautiful and famous Jaguar reserve, after camping in our basha systems (a hammock, mosquito net and tarpaulin sheet) the previous night. It was a clear and sunny morning as the team of eleven set out with all of our kit, rations and climbing equipment packed on our backs. The group was led by the highly experienced Victoria Peak trek guide and member of the Belizean National Disaster Accident Response team Marcus Cucul and Trekforce Belize’s Expedition leader Al Davies. The remaining group was comprised of a Dr Catherine Phoenix, four Trekforce trainee expedition leaders (Rob Kenning, Henry Howes and Emma Maxwell), two staff assistants (Lucy Hellier and David Osborne), and three Trekforce volunteers (Luke Bantock, Caroline Varley and Tom Kirtley).

The group had spent the previous two months completing three major environmental conservation projects in the Belizean jungle. These projects included cutting a 6km boundary and fire-break around Xunantunich protected Mayan site, cutting and mapping a 21km boundary along the northern border of Elijio Panti National Park and finally digging a 50 foot ditch at the Wildtracks National Manatee Rehabilitation centre in Sarteneja. We thought that the projects had prepared us physically for the demanding trek ahead, but did not know then just what Victoria Peak - and the weather - held in store for us.

The Belize Forestry Department had kindly granted us permission to undertake the trek (known as ‘the hardest trek in Belize, up the highest mountain in Belize’) even though it is the wet season and therefore park is officially closed. This was due to the presence of our guide Marcus, the high proportion of expedition leaders in the group and because of the close working relationship Trekforce and the Forestry Department has developed through collaborative conservation projects.

Rapid progress was made on the first day and we quickly covered the relatively flat ground from the Wildlife Sanctuary to base camp 12 kilometers up the trail. We were glad to be able to use the trial and camp built by previous Trekforce expeditions to attract eco-tourism to the area. The first evening was spent cooking in the large camp palapa with spirits high due to the ground covered, good weather and pleasant camp surroundings. Later that evening a massive thunderstorm caused many of team’s bashas to collapse and forced them back into the palapa for the night.

Day 2 began early, and with rain still pounding the camp we set off for ‘Deadman’s Camp’ at the 19km mark (also built by a previous Trekforce group) before attempting to reach the ‘last creek’ before the summit at the 24km before dark. This was to allow us as much time as possible to safely ascend and descend the precarious summit the next day. Heavy rain lashed us from the outset and the poor weather continued throughout the day making the ground underfoot extremely muddy and energy-sapping. The terrain also rapidly increased in difficulty by developing into a continuous series of steep cliffs and valleys which often required the use of our hands to grip tree roots and heave ourselves and our packs onwards and upwards. The team was determined to follow Marcus’ plan, and so hearty singing and grim determination saw us cover the brutal undulating ground to the last creek by night fall. The last ascent, known as ‘Heartbreak Hill’ was particularly steep, but the team all made it safely and we set up our basha’s in thick wet jungle on a steep bank by the creek for the night.

Day 3 was a day that no one in the group will forget. We rose before light and prepared lighter day sacks (containing only our survival equipment, climbing kit, rations and water) for our summit attempt. We set off early up the steep ascent into the mountain’s highest flanks. After only an hour of climbing the near-vertical muddy slopes, we reached the slick granite cliffs and waterfalls that mark the final ascent to the summit. We donned climbing helmets and harnesses and used ropes (skillfully set up by Marcus) to climb up the cliffs and gullies to the base of the summit. The top level of Victoria Peak is covering in 100 meter thick layer of cloud forest which had a strange and wonderful other-worldly look and feel. We quickly clambered up through the mossy damp forest to reach…the summit!

It was an incredible moment for everyone and the views of Cockscomb Basin stretching out beneath us were amazing. We celebrated with roars of jubilation, cigars, biscuits and a lot of photos of the happy group and the clouds racing across the basin below us.

As the weather continued to deteriorate, we were forced to quickly place our Trekforce t-shirt beside other memorabilia left on the summit and begin our descent back to camp at the last creek. Any ideas we may have had about the return ‘downhill’ journey being easier were smashed in the first hour as we made painfully slow progress abseiling down the precarious cliffs and waterfalls using ropes to safely maneuver each team member down. Once we reached more solid ground, we set off at a rapid pace in order to reach camp before night fall. Upon reaching camp at dusk and despite almost overwhelming fatigue and a lack of any dry fire wood whatsoever, Al and the trainee leaders managed to get a fire going for dinner. The tired group treated various injuries and forced as much warm food and drink down them as possible before quickly retiring to their hammocks for some much needed sleep.

The rain lashed the mountains and our basha’s for the duration of the night and it was a bedraggled group that rose, packed up their equipment and set off on Day 4 of the trek (Wednesday 17th June). This was one of the hardest days of the trek due to the sheer distance involved, the terrain (a precarious concertina of steep and muddy slopes), the weather (rain continued to lash us to the bone, drench our kit and added a great deal of weight to already heavy rucksacks) and the cumulative exhaustion and sleep-deprivation of the group. Morale remained high however with singing, banter and jokes from the moment we awoke to the jubilant moment we arrived back at base camp that afternoon.

There were bellows of relief and delight at the camp, and the moment was marked by a group of five scarlet macaws flying directly overhead. The team immediately set about trying to dry their kit under the palapa and treated various wounds ranging from foot rot, open skin sores and infected insect bites. The entire team were now physically exhausted, but remained cheerful due continuous group support, singing and joking, and the knowledge that we had completed the four hardest days of trek and only had one relatively straight forward day left.

Once again, we had under-estimated the fury of Chac (the Mayan Rain God) and the effects of the weather on the basin area. That night there was an apocalyptic lightning storm of such intensity that those whose bashas didn’t immediately collapse under the hammering rain were completely drenched as howling winds swept rain into our hammocks from all directions. Entire rucksacks were swept away in 10 inch torrents of overland flow and the whole team spent the entire night gawping in wonder at the sheet lightning and ground-vibrating thunder that lit and shook the camp approximately every five seconds.

Early on Day 5, our guide Marcus checked the level of the river between the camp and the trail back to the Wildlife Sanctuary and found that due to the torrential rain over the last few days, the water level had risen from a gentle 0.3 meters to 5 meters of raging, muddy torrent. It initially seemed that we would be stranded at base camp for at least a day until the water level subsided, but we retrieved and packed up our hopelessly water-logged kit and waited for a possible crossing window just in case.

The water level eventually dropped to around 2 meters deep and Al Davies expertly set up a diagonal river crossing line to help the group cross the river safely. Once we has been guided safely across the river, we reassembled and set off in high spirits for the final 12km sprint.

We made rapid time until we reached the final 1km where - to our amazement - the trail we had trekked up only four days prior had turned into a 2 meter deep jungle lake. We were forced to take off our packs, set up hand-lines and swim for around 500m through this lake pushing our packs in front of us. When a 1.5 meter Fer-De-Lance snake swam in front of the group, silence was immediately ordered and it felt as if trek had finally turned into a Vietnam war movie.

We eventually reached dry land, hauled our bags and ourselves out of the water and completed the final 200 meters to the Wildlife Sanctuary. There was a mixture of euphoria and relief when finally taking off our rucksacks and knowing that we had completed the hardest trek in Belize in some of the worst weather conditions ever attempted.

At the Wildlife Sanctuary, we discovered that due to the severity of the weather conditions, British Army Helicopters had been on standby to rescue us if we had taken another day and that the main bridges out of the Mountain Pine Ridge has been destroyed by flooding. As such, we spent a happy night at the Maya Centre celebrating in warm clothes with a hot meal and some celebratory drinks, before returning to Trekforce Fieldbase in San Ignacio the following morning tired, but very happy.

Trekforce are very interested to hear from volunteers that would be interested in working for Trekforce, and from conservation organisations, NGOs, schools and charities that may have projects which Trekforce could help with. They can be contacted through Jonathan Boocock (Expedition Leader), Trekforce Worldwide, PO Box 266, San Ignacio, Cayo District, Belize, Tel: 824 2211, Email: trekforcebelize@trekforce.org.uk, or on their international website: http://www.trekforce.org.uk/

Belize - July 09 Conservation & Jungle Update

Since the last update both the TELs and Trekkers have mainly been working at the Ya'axche Conservation Trust in southern Belize - line clearing, patrolling with the rangers and building bunk beds. The TELs have now survived an entire month in the jungle relatively unscathed - but not without some near misses. Guy has had a few close encounters with the native wildlife, firstly a massive tarantula on his shoulder and then he was lucky enough to see a jaguar up close while line clearing (which more people may have seen had he not shouted "Jaguar, JAGUAR!!").
Meanwhile, Jade, Kent and Colin went to play at being park rangers with the Trekkers from Strathclyde and joined a patrol in Bladen Nature Reserve - an amazing opportunity as it is not
open to the public. On route we encountered some funky monkeys who made it quite clear whose territory it was by throwing progressively bigger branches at us until we ran away, like the big brave rangers we are.

Following this Kent and Jade proved just how worryingly easy it is to get lost in the jungle. Well trained for this situation we put up a basha, collected some firewood, blew our whistles and crossed our fingers. A short time later Colin came marching back through the jungle, not entirely happy that we had managed to be the first people to get lost while in the jungle with him in ten years. Once we had reached camp that afternoon we had a play in the river and practiced some rope river crossings. Everyone rose to the challenge of trying to wade across a fairly strong current to get the rope over, which gave us plenty of opportunity to practice rescues with the throw rope. Once the rope was across we decided to practice a method of crossing where Colin was on one bank holding the rope and Kent and the other lads were on the other bank with the other end. The theory is that the person crossing uses the rope as support, if they fall a signal is given and one end is released allowing the other end to bring the person to the bank. So, Jade volunteered to go first, got half way and lost her footing in the current. Colin signalled that he would let go of his end, Kent misinterprets this and lets go of his end resulting in Jade getting washed off downstream (optimistically still holding on to the rope). A Bay Watch style rescue was launched with the four lads running in sequence down the bank watched over by Colin and a very bemused ranger (Kent maintaining his style despite stacking it on a rock half way). Everyone eventually reaches the bank in fits of laughter ready to try again.

On returning to Ya'axche the TELs and Trekkers celebrate a well deserved night off with a BBQ, yummy salads and plenty of rum punch. Over the following few days we helped out in the local villages with some litter picking before heading back to field base at San Ignacio. Back at base the TELs spent some time giving the rations a much needed re-vamp for our Jungle Navigation week. We managed to break away from the usual crackers and salsa for lunch and rice and beans for dinner and treated ourselves to curry, couscous and tagliatelle. Our ever patient guide Antonio also taught us how to make tortillas. We headed back to the jungle at Eligio Panti with Antonio to spend a week learning how to not get lost in the jungle. We swore and macheted our way through vines and the aptly named Bastard trees in our attempts to navigate 50m squares. In stealth ninja mode we followed increasingly difficult trails marked by Colin and Antonio and then competed to make and mark the best trails ourselves using upturned leaves and cuts in trees. The final challenge was our assessment where we had to individually navigate and mark a 200m square. Several hours later we all arrived back within a reasonable distance of our start point, knackered, pretty satisfied and ready for a beer or two. Back in San Ignacio we caught up with the Trekkers who seemed to have been partying due to working hard all week the highlight being Oz's leaving party where everyone made sure he had a good send off. We all headed out for Lucy's last night before the TELs set off to go on patrol at Bladen.

Borneo July Phase 09

We set out to our new Jungle base from Bario in high spirits after much karaoke and black market beer from the night before. However, we hadn’t taken into account the duration of the trek we were going to have to make. So many hours later we turned up at our new base exhausted and covered in sweat. Two days were spent prettying up our campsite before we started our project.

It was only when we started though that we all realised how much Maths we would have to use to work out the perimeters for the cultural sites. So much Pythagoras later, and after learning that our walkie-talkies only had a 10m range, we cracked the first site.

Unfortunately one of our party, Jon, had to leave after the first 2 weeks, which was a real shame as by then we had really gelled as a group and got to know each others ways. Whether it be Holley’s obsession with organic food and her thinking that the country directly North of South Korea is in fact Japan. Or Alex’s sleepwalking and fear of spiders, or Ryan’s breaking wind and blaming it on Holley. Not to mention Tom’s scabby plaster that he always wore on his finger just in the place where a precious ring might be.


Mike, of course, had no embarrassing or stupid habits and it is perfectly understandable that he would think one morning that the best way to help a fire burn more readily was to pour some of the liquid from his gas lighter on to the fire. Which is in fact a bad idea.

With one cultural site done we proceeded swiftly onto the others and have now completed five of them. Only another six hundred and ninety five to go…

Mike

Belize - July 09 Update

Part 1: Wales
On June 19th 2009 the Trainee Expedition Leader Training course kicked off with a bang as the TEL’s arrived by train into scenic Pont-y-pant, North Wales. The group was consisted of Guy Wright, Kent Browder, Jade Harrison, Frankie Angel and Dave Bough. We greeted warmly by a grinning Colin Lovell, instructor extraordinaire!
We quickly adjourned the cottage where we were staying in favour of a dusty local pub in the shadow of Moel Siabod for an icebreaker pint and to meet the locals. A sense of friendship formed quickly based on the common love of low humour.
Over the next 2 weeks we busied ourselves with intensive training in areas of navigation, legal, group management, and expedition planning whilst still finding the time to summit Moel Siabod and gaze into the misty abyss and contemplate the coming months before embarking on a shambolic descent (Guy and Jade decided that the easiest way to descend a steep grassy slope was on their arses!).
Colin’s instruction was capped off by a 14km hike to the base of Mount Snowdon, followed by a blistering race to the summit. Jades determination and conditioning shone through as she flew up the last 100m scramble, wowing the rest of us TEL’s and the American tourists alike!
We soon acquired a tiny Peugeot in which we crammed all of our gear for the now daily drive to Blue Perris mountain centre where we embarked on a 6 day long Mountain Leader course. Dave, the former postman showed off his driving skills as he hurled the tiny car through the Welsh countryside.
Under the instruction of Gareth Davies, Sam Bliss and Ed Chard we received advanced training on both micro and macro navigation as well as water crossings, rope skills, and night navigation, in the area surrounding Mt Tryffan whilst RAF jets screeched through the valley at eye level.
Guy was the shining star of the ML course, aptly demonstrating his no-harness rappelling and sure footedness as the anchor for the river crossings.
With the ML course completed we headed to LLangollen for an excellent 2 day first responder and expedition medicine course under the expert instruction of Leo Hoare.
Through his extensive knowledge of first aid, Frankie proved to us all that lifeguards are not only hot bodies, but have brains as well!
For our last 2 days in the UK, we headed down to London for a bit of R&R where we fattened up and compared expectations for Belize!
Written by: Kent Browder

Part 2: First 2 Weeks In Belize
On July 10th all of the trainee leaders arrived safely at Belize airport to be collected by Colin.
We had decided as stepping off the plane that our first priority was food, so Colin took us to a so called “Chinese Takeaway” where we were confronted by a machete wielding nutter who proceeded to ask us for money before hurling racist abuse at the Chinese shop attendant (it was at this point that we realized what the bars covering the shop front and windows were for).
So one hour in and we had already encountered machete wielding racists. . . . . . a good start by any means!
Our first night was spent in San Elena at the Trekforce field base where we would spend the next day sorting out rations for the upcoming week of jungle training.
We also received a crash course on basha setups and machete use and sharpening for Oz (who was completing the last of his work for Trekforce before heading off to travel Central America) at a riverside campsite on the outskirts of San Ignasio.
By the time that we had finished at the campsite we received word that the trekkers had arrived and were waiting outside field base (we had the keys).

After having a meal out with the trekkers and a bit of group bonding we headed back to our campsite for our first night in hammocks! The night passed uneventfully with nobody falling out of their hammocks (much to our dismay, we were looking forward to some entertainment courtesy of somebody’s dignity!). Although after weeks of speculation in Whales as to the possible comfort levels of hammocks, we were relieved to find them quite cosy!
The following day we packed up the Land Rovers with trekkers, TEL’s and equipment and headed to our one week of jungle training!
Before entering the jungle we were met by Antonio, the park ranger (who seems to know everything about the Belizean jungle!) who would spend the week with us along with Zac and Langy the two Belizean Defence Force Jungle Warfare Instructors. It was their job to help us along with the trekkers to hone our jungle skills to the point where if we were to become lost we could survive with only our machete and what we carry on our belt kits!
The week passed without much major incident and gave us a chance to practice our teaching skills, as Jade, Dave and myself gave the trekkers a crash first aid course and Frankie and Kent taught the basics of navigation.
The week culminated in solo night, in which all trekkers and TEL’s alike are to set up our sleeping systems, fires and cook our own food without help from the instructors. As usual the night passed without incident and everybody managed to survive the night alone in the jungle quite comfortably (unless you count one of the trekkers, Nick, who needed instructions on how to cook his morning porridge!).
The following day was spent doing a search and rescue exercise in which I played a semi conscious snakebite victim and Frankie my lost, and slightly insane companion.
So that was the end of our jungle training, the rest of the day was spent relaxing, swimming and washing beneath a magnificent series of waterfalls, before returning to field base the next day for a party!
At 5AM following the party we were up and off again on a 5 hour bus ride (not good for the many hangovers shared by the group) to Ya Axche Nature Reserve where we were briefed on our project.
After spending one night at Ya Axche we split from the main group and headed to Bladen Nature Reserve where the rainforest is virtually untouched by humans, making for beautiful pristine forest!
And so only minutes after arriving at Bladen we embarked on an overnight patrol on the lookout for poachers (which we didn’t find). The hike was long and over undulating ground through thick forest just about physically destroyed us all!
The day following our patrol we had a positively late start (8AM) as oppose to our normal routine of rising at 6AM, and embarked on 3 hours of clearing the boundaries which surround the nature reserve of vegetation. Needless to say after 3 hours of machete use, our hands were blistered, our bodies aching, but for the most part we were very satisfied with the work which we had put in.
While we have not yet seen any spectacular wildlife (we have heard Howler Monkeys, which sound absolutely prehistoric and seen plenty of scorpions and spiders etc) the highlight of boundary clearing for me was in the 25 meter stretch of ground I was clearing at the end of the day which led to the river bank. It was here that the undergrowth was thickest and whilst chopping away I felt a “something” crawl across the back of my neck and onto my shoulder. Looking over to find a huge red and black tarantula sitting there (fortunately Colin, who was working about 30 meters away was kind enough to remove it from me), but without a doubt that had the adrenaline pumping more than any work we have done so far!
So despite all of the ups and downs, blazing sun changing to torrential rain, machete wielding racists and magnificent waterfalls, Jade falling out of her hammock mid jungle training, Kent, Jade, Dave, Frankie and myself are loving Belize, enjoying all of the hard work and the great people we are meeting. Even when times get tough, the constant piss taking, abuse and banter between the five of us keeps our spirits up!
Written By: Guy Wright